Gagarin goes into orbit

This is a classic article from New Scientist's archive, republished as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations

IT IS a sorry thing to record that when the news of the first human space flight came to Florence, the second International Space Science Symposium continued without interruption. While the world cheered and the mayor of the historic city was bringing his congratulations to a smiling academician Anatoly Blagonravov, one of the chief architects of the Soviets' space achievements, the scientific sessions went on without so much as an announcement of the news.

Ironically, the subject on that Wednesday morning was "special events" - but this referred to the big solar flares of July 1959 and November 1960. To be sure, many of the scientists afterwards sought details from the pressman, the president of the international Committee on Space Research Professor Hendrik van de Hulst produced some wine for the Russians, and ...

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